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Most economists say it could take at least until 2015 for the unemployment rate to drop down to a historically more normal 5.5 percent. And with the job market likely to stay weak, some also foresee another decade of wage stagnation.

From May to December, the amount of income-tax revenues that the state gives to municipalities has decreased by 16 percent compared with the same time last year, according to the Illinois Municipal League

Started in 1969, the state income tax simply had gone flat during past recessions but had never taken a dive like the one it currently is experiencing, said Larry Frang, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League….Frang didn’t foresee a turnaround in the next 12 months, he said, but the revenues should start falling at a slower rate.

The [Japanese] jobless rate, at 5.2 percent, is at a record high, and the number of households on welfare has risen sharply. The country's 15.7 percent poverty rate is one of the highest among industrialized nations.

The government says about 15,800 people live on the streets in Japan, but aid groups put the figure much higher, with at least 10,000 in Tokyo alone. Those numbers do not count the city's "hidden" homeless, such as those who live in capsule hotels. There is also a floating population that sleeps overnight in the country's many 24-hour Internet cafes and saunas.

Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income.

About 6 million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, these people described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid: no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.